State approves moving teen killers to juvenile centers

BILL KACZORAssociated Press

Published Tuesday, December 17, 2002

PENSACOLA (AP) -- Two teenage brothers who pleaded guilty to killing their father have been transferred to juvenile detention from adult prison over objections from the judge and prosecutor, officials said Monday.

Alex and Derek King, 13 and 14, were turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice on Friday in response to a request from state prison officials, said Bill Bankhead, the department's secretary.

The agency is prohibited from disclosing where inmates are sent, but Alex's lawyer, James Stokes, said his client is at the Okeechobee Juvenile Offender Correctional Center and Derek is in the Omega Juvenile Program near Sarasota.

The decision was based on the boys' age and his department's more appropriate programs for juvenile offenders, Bankhead said in a statement. He also warned that the brothers could be sent back to adult prison if they broke department rules.

Derek admitted he fatally beat their father, Terry King, with an aluminum baseball bat Nov. 26, 2001, and Alex said he had urged his brother to do it. The boys said they then set their house on fire in nearby Cantonment.

Bankhead's decision pleased family members.

"At the beginning, when they were charged, this is what I was hoping for," said Greg King, the victim's brother. "I think it could be a good thing. I hope it is."

The boys pleaded guilty last month to arson and third-degree murder in a mediated settlement almost unheard of for a major crime. After sentencing, they were sent to the North Florida Reception Center in Lake Butler, an entry point for adult inmates.

Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer and Circuit Judge Frank Bell objected to the Department of Corrections' request for the move. Such requests are not unusual, but most children in juvenile detention were tried in juvenile court.

Bell last month sentenced Derek to eight years and Alex to seven, both with credit for a year of time served.

"This was a compromised plea and sentence and the parties should now be required to abide by what was presented in court," Bell wrote to the Department of Juvenile Justice.

He added that the boys admitted lying in court by blaming the murder on family friend, Ricky Chavis, 41.

"It is a violent perversion of judgment and justice," Rimmer said, noting that the juvenile system's focus is rehabilitation rather than punishment. "Somebody who beats a sleeping man to death with a baseball bat should be punished."

Bankhead said he decided to accept the King boys because they would have been among the youngest inmates in adult prison, will be able to complete their sentences in juvenile detention and receive education and treatment more appropriate to inmates their age.

The case drew criticism from some legal experts because Chavis and the King boys originally were tried on first-degree murder charges under conflicting theories of who wielded the bat. In Chavis' trial the boys testified he did, and in their case Rimmer argued it was Derek.

Chavis was acquitted. A separate jury convicted the boys of second-degree murder without a weapon. Jurors said they believed Chavis committed the murder but convicted the boys because they let him in the house, a result neither side had argued.

Bell threw out their verdict and said he would order a new trial if the case couldn't be settled in mediation.

The boys' mother, Kelly Marino, of Lexington, Ky., had considered appealing the mediation but declined after meeting with the boys, who asked her not to, said Jayne Weintraub, a lawyer representing Marino.

The deadline for appealing passed Friday. Marino, who was never married to Terry King, earlier said she might appeal if the boys were not sent to the juvenile system.

"We accomplished our goal of giving them a chance at a future," Weintraub said. "She's thrilled and looking forward to relocating so she can visit them regularly."